Learn and Master the Poi Basics

Learn all the basics of poi spinning with master teacher Nick Woolsey

4.9
(235 ratings)

Instead of using a simple lifetime average, Udemy calculates a
course's star rating by considering a number of different factors
such as the number of ratings, the age of ratings, and the
likelihood of fraudulent ratings.

How taking a course works

Discover

Learn

Master

About This Course

Published 9/2014
English

Course Description

Join renowned poi-teacher Nick Woolsey for a 12-section poi course! This is your chance to learn and master all the basic moves and transitions of poi!

Each section of the course will include 12-20 videos, guiding you through Nick's proven step-by-step system of learning poi. The lessons will cover all the basic moves of poi such as weaves, windmills, butterfly patterns, buzzsaws, corkscrews, and fountains, along with lots of tips on how to master them to build turns, sequences, and transitions.

For those of you who already know some moves, this course is a great way to deepen your control of planes, rhythm, and freedom of movement, and to discover and learn all the moves missing from your poi movement vocabulary.

What are the requirements?

For this course you will need a set of soft practice poi, plus a way to watch the videos where you have enough space to follow the lessons

What am I going to get from this course?

play freely and confidently with all the basic moves of poi spinning

What is the target audience?

This course is for complete beginners, or those who know some of the basic moves, but still can't dance freely with poi.

Poi is like any other form of exercise or dance: If you don't take proper care of yourself, there is a risk of strain or injury. In this video we go through important concepts for reducing any risk of injury. In particular we talk about the myth that stretching is the best way to avoid injury. Although stretching can be one of your tools for keeping your body healthy, studies show that warming up and using good technique are even more important!

It sounds funny, but it's one of the most important bits of advice you will ever hear. The sooner you get over your fear of the poi hitting you, the sooner you will stop flinching and just seeing what the poi do. This will help you to learn much faster, and to enjoy the process more.

Crossing one poi side to side while spinning backward can sometimes be challenging to learn. But if you take the right steps, it's easy! The trick is to notice if you switch back to forward spinning ;)

"Poi-fu" is practicing poi-like movements with your arms, to develop good posture and body mechanics to be the foundation for poi. As we proceed through the lessons we will ultimately add poi to all the poi-fu movements. By starting with just the arms, you can lay the foundation you need to feel strong and confident with the poi. Trust me on this one: Do your poi fu!

Control of your planes (the tilt of the poi) is an essential skill for learning new movements with poi, and for making the moves you know look beautiful. In this video we play with bending the tilt of the poi to learn a new move: Split-time butterfly! Don't worry if it feels a bit floppy at first. Within a week or two it will feel natural! Just breathe and relax as you play with it!

In this lesson we explore bending the planes from forward split-time on wheel planes into inwards split-time on wall plane (inwards split-time butterfly), and from spinning backward split-time on wheel planes into outwards split-time on wall plane (outwards split-time butterfly)

Here we look at the butterfly again, but this time we do it by bending the planes inwards from wheel planes. People often want to jump over the moment that this feels awkward. If you take your time, and bend the planes onto a wall plane in front of you slowly, exploring the awkward feeling part and proving to yourself that there's nothing to be afraid of, you will start to feel truly confident with this move!

Here's one of the things you need to practice to learn 3-beat weaves: Circling one poi over-and-under-and-back of the other arm. You will need to practice this until it is equally comfortable with either arm.

This is another useful lead-up for the forward 3-beat weave. With the arms crossed, keep letting the bottom arm drop back along the wheel plane to cross over the other arm. Make sure you are mostly circling along the wheel planes at your sides, not along a wall plane in front of you.

If you only practice the hardest and newest tricks that feel awkward, you may become an awkward, fretful poi spinner. Most of the poi masters spend most of their time playing with the simple moves to build true mastery. See how free you can become with one poi and that feeling will start to spill into your more complex movements.

Jiggies, or jiggiying, is the idea of using the side-side turning of your body to control the crossing of the poi, rather than using your arms. You can cross the poi side-to-side only using the turning of your body, without your arms helping at all. I learned the term "Jiggy" from Arashi many years ago and I liked it.

Lecture 40

Crossing one poi front to back, over the head

05:22

Lecture 41

Introducing Reels (Looping the same-time turns)

05:31

Lecture 42

The forward 3-beat weave

06:21

Lecture 43

Backward 2-beat weaves

04:51

Lecture 44

Backward 3-beat-weave lead-ups

04:26

Lecture 45

Split time turns in front

03:55

Lecture 46

Controlling poi with the arms crossed

02:27

Lecture 47

Getting cozy with the super important thumbs-inward-behind-the-back position

03:12

Lecture 48

Exploring how to circle the hand and poi on a plane

03:44

Lecture 49

Q&A: Developing backward split-time rhythm

03:26

Lecture 50

Summary of phase THREE

Article

Section 5: Week/Phase FOUR

Lecture 51

Warm Up

07:35

Lecture 52

Practicing turning footwork

04:50

Lecture 53

Practicing poi-fu: opposites and same direction split time

05:19

Lecture 54

Reviewing turning in a circle: How many steps? Where's the weight?

06:56

Lecture 55

Stall and reverse #3 - Wall plane

04:50

Lecture 56

Practicing the reels and chase the sun

05:31

Lecture 57

Adding poi to poitrivian

06:52

Lecture 58

Introducing crosspoints

04:10

Lecture 59

Backward 3-beat weave

04:11

Lecture 60

Split-time turns behind

03:52

Lecture 61

Threading the Needle with Butterfly

03:22

Lecture 62

Further with split-time butterfly, inward and outward

04:56

Lecture 63

Tips on not getting dizzy

04:04

Lecture 64

When to whirl and when to shuffle

01:27

Lecture 65

Q&A: Answering a great question about crosspoints

02:18

Lecture 66

Summary of phase FOUR

Article

Section 6: Week/Phase FIVE

Lecture 67

Turning through a full circle, arms split-time same direction on a wall plane

03:38

Lecture 68

Poi-fu: Introducing split-time opposites

02:39

Lecture 69

Learning the split-time reels

03:27

Lecture 70

Exploring the 3-beat weave

03:08

Lecture 71

following the weaves with your body

03:32

Lecture 72

Butterfly over the head

04:55

Lecture 73

Getting started with Mexican Wave

05:59

Lecture 74

Getting into windmill from poi passing the toes

03:36

Lecture 75

Learning corkscrew

04:27

Lecture 76

Corkscrew and windmill... are basically the same thing!

02:54

Lecture 77

Turning between the weaves from hanging poi (if the last approach didn't work)

Students Who Viewed This Course Also Viewed

SHARE

Instructor Biography

Nick Woolsey is a poi-dance pioneer and a cult-celebrity within the global poi-dancing community. Thousands of people have attended Nick's poi workshops and retreats, and tens of thousands more have learned from his online videos. He is now collaborating with professional dancers and circus artists in Vancouver, BC, to bring a new level of online video resources to the poi and flow arts community.